Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Good Idea of the Day

Federal spending has increased dramatically in the last century. Much of this money is wasted on unnecessary projects. Each congressman figures, “I’ll vote for yours and you’ll vote for mine.”

One way to limit the growth of federal spending is to limit Congress’s spending power. We can do this by insisting that projects receive multiple sources of funding. A project that benefits primarily a local area, like a highway, should receive at least half of its funding from the local community.

Another important source of public money should be charity. Suppose all projects required five percent charitable funding. People would see it as their duty to donate to worthwhile projects, but not to wasteful ones.

Charitable corporations would spring up to wisely fund and audit these programs. In a free market, if one charity funds wasteful spending, another charity would say, “Donate to us, we won’t waste your money like they do.” Since there is only so much charity, this would be a powerful check on public spending.

I hope I can be at least one of the top 21 entrants. Then my idea gets published in a book. That would be nice.